Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Code 3 / Mobil 1 Chevrolet, gets into his car in the garage during Practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway on August 1, 2014 in Long Pond, Penn..(Photo: Jared C. Tilton Getty Images)

If it was an accident, and we prefer to believe that's the case, he will be able to live with himself, although the memory will remain with him always.

If he was overcome by rage and did less than his best to avoid the 20-year-old Ward, Jr., he will have to live with that messy lie the rest of his natural life.

The rest of us can debate after having watched the video a number of times. (Why is it less disturbing to watch the Stewart video than it is the Paul George video? Answer me that. Or is it just me?)

Stewart's many fans will point to the fact that Ward Jr. was incredibly foolish to be walking on the track, and was actually walking toward Stewart's car to confront the driver for supposedly putting him into the wall. Ward, Jr. certainly has culpability for what happened here, and paid the ultimate price. There's no question that if he had stayed in his car, like most drivers, all of this could have been avoided.

His detractors will point to his quick-trigger temper, the fact he shoved a Star freelance photographer many years ago, and has had several run-ins with other drivers throughout the course of his marvelous career. They will watch the tape like it's the Zapruder Film, ultimately concluding he did less than his best to avoid Ward, Jr., even gunning it when he was confronted by the other driver when he walked onto the track.

Flowers were placed outside the Canandaigua Motorsports Park on Sunday to honor Kevin Ward, Jr., who was struck and killed by Tony Stewart during a race the night before.(Photo: NEETI UPADHYE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

I'm supposed to have a strong-and-fast opinion on this, but how am I to know – how is anybody to know – what flashes through the mind of a man in a nano-second? These guys are making decisions in the blink of an eye. Who knows what Stewart saw, what he thought, when he suddenly came face to face with Ward, Jr.?

Whatever you think of Stewart – and it's generally favorable here in his home state – he made the right decision to sit out the Watkins Glen race.

When it was initially reported he would race Sunday, I thought it was terribly disrespectful and downright cold-blooded.

So when it was later reported he wouldn't race, my faith in (some of) humankind was restored.

Either way, he's going to have to live with this the rest of his life. If it was an accident, he will have to understand that in the course of doing what he does best, what he loves most, a car he drove killed a man. If it was an accident, he will have to live with that terrible knowledge, the kind of knowledge that eats a person alive inside for the rest of his days.

It also makes you wonder what kind of driver he can and will be in the future. Since he broke his leg nearly a year ago while dirt-track racing, Stewart has been a non-factor in Sprint Cup racing. Now, regardless of his culpability, he will know that he was involved in this man's death. He's among the most talented and fearless men in his sport, but how does he bounce back from this?

Maybe it's an apples and oranges comparison, but American boxer Ray "Boom Boom'' Mancini killed Duk-Koo-Kim in the ring, and he was never the same boxer or the same person.

Maybe it's just part of the sport. Maybe Stewart compartmentalizes like most great athletes and continues his career unaffected. Maybe.

Ontario County Sheriff Philip Povero, left, at a news conference Aug. 10, 2014, in Canandaigua , N.Y., says that investigators don't have any evidence at this point to support criminal intent in the fatal crash that killed Kevin Ward Jr., and involved racing superstar Tony Stewart. At right is Sergeant James Alexander.(Photo: Melod Burri AP)

Now there will be legal entanglements. The lawyers will get involved and they'll try to pop Stewart with some kind of charge. But it seems to me, a layman, that it's next to impossible to prove criminal intent. This is a harsh, violent sport, and it's going to take a heck of a prosecutor to prove that it's anything other than a terrible accident.

For the record, I thought it was reprehensible that during the invocation before the Watkins Glen race, not a word was uttered about Ward, Jr., no prayers, no moments of silence. Maybe that's because as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. knows and says, "Death is a part of the sport.'' Maybe they are casual when it comes to these sorts of fatalities. But something should have been mentioned.

So now the focus returns to Stewart, who must live with this the rest of his life. Was it purely an accident? Could he have done more to elude Ward, Jr. when he was on that track? We can debate it until we're blue in the face, but in the end, only Stewart knows the truth.

Bob Kravitz is a columnist for The Indianapolis Star. Call him at (317) 444-6643 or email bob.kravitz@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @BKravitz.